He added, “All of us must be vigilant in our determination to prevent attacks and defeat the forces of terrorism. And it is the values we share that make us best placed to succeed.”

The reality of what that means is continuing carnage in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The rhetoric over terrorism is translating into Brown’s plan to increase detention without trial in Britain.

He has said that in the next session of parliament he wants to reopen the debate on raising the 28-day limit on the amount time that police can hold a suspect without charge.

The limit was extended to 28 days only 18 months ago. It is already the longest maximum period of detention without charge in western Europe.

The proposal for a 90 day period was narrowly defeated when put forward by Tony Blair in 2005.

But Brown has called for a “consultation” on increasing the time to up to 56 days, supporting police claims that they need yet more time to detain people to collect “evidence” in terrorist cases.

Brown also announced he is intending to bring in a “unified border force” to boost the “fight against terrorism”.

This would create a “highly visible” force that would bring together immigration and customs officers.

He is also calling for a speed up to the introduction of identity cards.

Draconian

Other measures include support for using email and telephone intercepts as evidence.

Yet more draconian laws won’t mean an end to terrorism. It is Britain’s support for the US’s war that leads to terrorism.

In his Washington Post article, Brown said, “We must expose the contrast between great objectives to tackle global poverty and honour human dignity and the evils of terrorists who would bomb and maim people irrespective of faith, indifferent to the very existence of human life.”

In a sense he is right. But it is an apt description of his “special relationship” with Bush and the carnage they preside over.